An angle of vision : women writers on their poor and working-class roots / edited by Lorraine M. López.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

López, Lorraine, 1956-

Series:

Class, culture

Class: culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women authors, American--Biography.

Women authors, American.

Working class authors--United States--Biography.

Working class authors.

Minority authors--United States--Biography.

Minority authors.

Working class in literature.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 203 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2009]

Summary:

An Angle of Vision is a compelling anthology that collects personal essays and memoir by a diverse group of gifted authors united by their poor or working-class roots in America. The contributors include Dorothy Alison, Joy Castro, Lisa D. Chavez, Mary Childers, Sandra Cisneros, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Teresa Dovalpage, Maureen Gibbon, Dwonna Goldstone, Joy Harjo, Lorraine M. Lp̤ez, Karen Salyer McElmurray, Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes, Bich Minh Nguyen, Judy Owens, Lynn Pruett, Heather Sellers, and Angela Threatt.

In a sense these stories are the travel narratives of women who have journeyed beyond their family circumstances to cross class borders, aided by educational opportunities that encouraged their literary gifts to blossom. Many of the essays reflect on the immigrant factors of poverty, gender, and ethnicity. Some authors recount their first moment of class awareness (Bich Minh Nguyen's occurred while watching Laverne and Shirley on the family's first television). Still others describe encounters in the relatively privileged world of higher education- where the subject of class is evident but mostly off-limits. Throughout An Angle of Vision the authors describe delicate balances of work and family, men and money, motherhood and sexuality. Each author reflects on the experiences that provided an opportunity to develop her own distinct identity and her own particular "angle of vision."

Contents:

"Stubborn Girls and Mean Stories," / Dorothy Allison 11

"Queen for a day," / Maria De La Luz Montes 20

"Somewhere in Between," / Angela Threatt 33

"The Flying Management," / Joy Harjo 43

"Our Mother's Lie," / Lorraine M. Lüpez 52

"Laverne & Shirley Days," / Bich Minh Nguyen 66

"Anoter Frigidaire Sketch," / Teresa Dovalpage 72

"Home Economics," / Dwonna Goldstone 83

"Only Daughter," / Sandra Cisneros 93

"Child of the Air House," / Lynn Pruett 97

"Sex and the Inner City," / Mary Childers 104

"In My Mother's House" / Lisa D. Chavez 117

"Bumming Work," / Judy Owens 131

"Stink Jobs," / Maureen Gibbon 142

"Sails with Good People," / Heather Sellers 152

"First Class Back to the Summer of Love," / Judith Ortiz Cofer 160

"Trip Around the World," / Karen Salyer McElmurray 171

"An Angle of Vision," / Joy Castro 184

Suggested for Further Reading 193.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780472070787

0472070789

9780472050789

0472050788

OCLC:

320188018